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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

This is your weekly blueprint for basketball culture: brand insights, marketing strategy, creator tools, and business resources.

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NIL BLUEPRINT

Paige Bueckers is the first NIL athlete to ever launch a Nike Player Edition sneaker.

Her Nike G.T. Hustle 3 PE releases this week on 12/7 on the SNKRS app and at select retailers nationwide.

It's no surprise why Nike made her the first college athlete to release her own shoe.

Let’s breakdown her NIL Blueprint:

📈 No other college athletes have 5.1 million followers with a pro level game to match.

😃 Her social presence is authentically her at all times.

🔋 She has infectious energy both on and off the court.

🚀 Her family’s tagline, “Be you. Be great,” is both motivational and inspirational.

🏀 As the projected #1 draft pick, she’ll instantly join the WNBA as one of the league’s new faces.

🪣 It also helps she has the perfect nickname for a basketball player (Paige Buckets).

This blueprint is why Paige Bueckers is a fan favorite and brands will continue to invest in her $1.4 million NIL valuation.

And if this sneaker drop sells out, I guarantee she’ll be announcing her signature shoe before she hears her name called at the WNBA draft.

FREE THROWS

Sharing the tools and resources that I’m using this week:

📃 DocSend - I shared on my LinkedIn today a story about how I made a mistake by sharing a free concept with a brand that I should have protected. Don’t make the same mistake I did; use a tool like DocSend to track your deck downloads and opens.

🏀 Shotcreator - Discover, create and share free NBA/WNBA content with this new platform where basketball stats meets video clips.

🤳 VidClue - Never run out of video ideas again and use this huge library of short-form video inspiration for brands and businesses.

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🐜 Anthony Edwards' best friend, Nick Maddox, got his own colorway of the AE1, and adidas transformed the Target Center into AE1 Center for the Timberwolves homegame against the Lakers.

🤑 Oregon Men's Basketball won the first-ever Players Era Championship, and the Ducks' players will split $1.5 million in NIL money among themselves.

🎄 Kobe’s legacy lived on through Nike’s football athletes during the Thanksgiving Day NFL games, with his infamous Grinch colorway featured on the Nike Vapor Edge Kobe 6.

🌹 Adidas announced Simeon Career Academy as the first-ever Rose school, named after Derrick Rose’s iconic high school career.

🐍 Kyrie made a surprise appearance on Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon 2 stream and shared some insights and gems about his relationship with Kobe.

🎙️ Lonzo Ball and Angel Reese shared the story of Zo paying Angel’s $200 WNBA fine on the latest episode of the Unapologetically Angel podcast.

📝 Lakers rookie Quincy Olivari shared his story of standing out and the importance of printing your resume in a digital age.

POST-GAME

That’s all for this week.

Hope you enjoyed reading The Baseline today.

If you have any questions, ideas, or opportunities to work together—just shoot me a quick email and let’s chat!

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻